On Aug. 24, 2008, at approximately 3:45 a.m., Leak was involved in a fatal motor vehicle/pedestrian accident on Southbound Gratiot Avenue in Chesterfield Township. He was struck by an ambulance owned by Medstar. Leak wore a black shirt and beige pants as he was walking. Both the ambulance driver and his front seat companion said they could not see Leak.

Plaintiff asserted that the ambulance driver was the sole proximate cause of the accident due to inattentiveness and operating the ambulance at an unsafe and excessive speed, given the prevailing conditions (i.e. darkness). It also was argued that a motorist has a duty to maintain a “reasonable and proper lookout” for pedestrians.

Defendant contended that plaintiff’s decedent’s location, in the southbound lane of travel — in the 50 mph roadway — was caused by his alcohol consumption (he registered blood alcohol levels of .249 and .199 in two postmortem studies) and not being aware of his surroundings as a result.

Chesterfield Police Department officials and defendant’s accident reconstruction and mechanical engineering experts testified that plaintiff’s decedent was in the roadway, and not on the shoulder, as plaintiff claimed.

The jury found for the defendant and issued a no-cause-of-action verdict.